The Los Angeles City Council put the brakes on establishing free Wi-Fi at LAX, "amid concerns that prospective Internet providers were not allowed to place a competitive bid," in the name of expedition, reports The Daily Breeze.

"I don't believe this contractor is the only one who can do this kind of work," said Councilman Richard Alarcon reports Santa Monica Patch. "You are walking down a precarious, precedent setting path here," he continued.

The Los Angeles City Council has 21 days to either affirm or overrule the Board of Airport Commissioners decision to use Advanced Wireless Group LLC without offering the opportunity to other providers such as Boingo Wireless and local businesses.

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Americas Best and Worst Airports

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Readers singled out DFW's flight information screens as especially helpful. But they were less enthusiastic about the check-in and security line process, for which the airport ranked eighth. With a middling 12th ranking in several categories -- baggage handling, staff responsiveness, airport location and Wi-Fi -- DFW came out as a truly average airport. Not the best, but not the worst. At least it's pretty clean (eighth).
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Photo: Courtesy of DFW

Public transportation to and from the airport was lauded in Atlanta. But a string of solid 14th-ranked scores -- for longish waits at check-in and security lines, less than user-friendly Wi-Fi, slow baggage handling, average staff responsiveness and location -- kept it locked in 14th place on our score sheet. The shortage of kid-friendly areas was also an issue, given the vast size of this hub.
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Photo: Courtesy of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

The best that could be said about Houston is that there's a reasonably good chance that your flight will take off and not be canceled. The bad news? It has a less than desirable location (18th) and lousy Wi-Fi (17th). But remarkably for such a big airport, it had a strong showing in the category of baggage handling (sixth).
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Photo: Courtesy of Houston Airport System

Logan Airport is far from the cleanest major airport (17th) in the country, according to T+L readers. Nor is the staff known for its rapid response when something goes wrong (rated 18 out of 22 for customer service). You'll probably wait in check-in and security lines (16th), and when you arrive, factor in extra time to wait for your baggage as well (17th). On the plus side, Logan is lauded for its convenient location (seventh).
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Photo: Courtesy of Logan International Airport

The best feature of O'Hare is its public transportation to and from the airport (with a score of five out of 22). It ranked 17th for design, cleanliness and location. The overall check-in and security experience came in with a poor showing of 17, while a reputation for snarled flights and stormy winter weather resulted in a ranking of 21 out of 22 for delays.
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Photo: Mira / Alamy

Ah, Newark. It leads the other two New York-area airports, but that's not saying much. While readers ranked it 11th for location and convenience, its other scores -- 16th for staff communication and a string of 18th places for design, cleanliness, baggage handling and miserable check-in and security lines -- are near the bottom of the barrel.
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Photo: Courtesy of The Port Authority of NY & NJ

Ease of getting a taxi may be the best thing to be said about JFK. You will wait -- and wait -- in check-in and security lines, likely wait again for your luggage, encounter a less than helpful, and wander in vain looking for a Wi-Fi signal. All of these were ranked 19th by our readers. Even worse is the airport's location (21st) in relation to the nation's largest city. Taxi!
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Photo: iStock

Philadelphia's airport is singled out for a lousy design and lack of cleanliness (20th), surly staff (20th) and long check-in and security lines (20th). The only thing worse is waiting for your bags, ranked 21st in efficiency (make that inefficiency). That its location came in at 13th is not much consolation.
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Photo: Howard Harrison / Alamy

Dilapidated La Guardia hasn't aged well. The airport has the dubious honor of ranking the worst for the check-in and security process, the worst for baggage handling, the worst when it comes to providing Wi-Fi, the worst at staff communication and the worst design and cleanliness. If there was a ray of hope, its location, which ranked 16th, was considered superior to six other airports.
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Photo: Courtesy of The Port Authority of NY & NJ